The pro dancer tells PEOPLE “listening to my body” — and skipping a dance move if she needs to — is “being smart” about her health

"I just remember laying on the hospital floor and just begging — I was like, 'Please, please don't go,'" Hough recalled on the show's latest episode.

Derek Hough opened up to PEOPLE about returning to the 'Dancing with the Stars' ballroom with his wife Hayley Erbert Hough for a performance on Oct. 15 following her emergency surgery in December 2023,

The troupe dancer is returning to the "Dancing With the Stars" ballroom for Dedication Night alongside her husband

Hayley Erbert is back in the ballroom. The "So You Think You Can Dance" alum, 30, made a triumphant return to "Dancing with the Stars" on Tuesday to perform a contemporary routine with her husband and "DWTS" judge Derek Hough to an acoustic version of "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone.

Hough, long known for his work on "Dancing With the Stars," recalled the moment he learned that Erbert was “essentially dying” while on tour last year.

Derek Hough took the 'DWTS' stage with wife Hayley Erbert a year after her emergency brain surgery, which will be detailed in a new documentary.

Dancing with the Stars’ guest judge Mark Ballas tells Fox News Digital he was one of the first calls that fellow alum Derek Hough made when they learned of his wife’s tragic brain surgery news.